TOBAGO police have been praised for their social intervention in the community of Spring Garden/Whim/ Union/Mary’s Hill, once identified as an area of concern.

Electoral representative Kelvon Morris thanked the police for working with residents, at a town hall meeting on June 17 at the Spring Garden/Whim/Union/Mary’s Hill Community Centre.

He said the community was doing a little better after the partnership with police.

“We have come a long way; it is because of some of the social interventions, the partnerships that we’ve had with the police service and other community organisations such as the police youth club.”

Morris hopes to see the police further make their presence felt.

“We look forward to having you not just in this forum but seeing boots on the ground; seeing your men engaged with the people in the community on the ground; walking – not just driving through, but actually walking the community so that we can put a face to the people who are entrusted with our security.”

Snr Supt Rodhill Kirk said a lot of problems were identified in the community and a partnership was necessary.

“We have seen shootings; we have seen murder; we have seen woundings; we have seen break-ins; we have seen domestic violence; we have seen abuse. All this happens within your community, and this is why we chose it because if we don’t come to engage you to talk about it and to see how we can fix it – then we must be spinning top in mud.”

He said the residents are the most important stakeholders and the police have the responsibility of serving and protecting them.

“You are the ones that have to embrace us and I want to say, within the past couple of weeks we have seen people getting on board to work alongside the police and we have seen the results of that. So again, it is important that you partner with us as we would like to partner with you so that we can fix your community issues.”

He added: “We should adopt a zero-tolerance approach towards crime and we want that when you see something, let us know.”

Tobago West MP Shamfa Cudjoe-Lewis said she was grateful to learn of the partnership.

“I want to thank you for your work. I would really like to see you doing more of this interaction with the community because often times we think that the police is far from the people. You report and you don’t feel like you get the type of response, but if we can communicate and interact with you, I want to thank you for this interaction, this engagement.”

She said the police cannot do it alone.

“The responsibility is our responsibility; churches have to do what they’re supposed to, schools have to do what they’re supposed to, parents – every single one of us.”

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